Singing the praises of music camp

Mar. 3, 2013

Brevard Music Center teaches students ages 14-18 who study piano, voice, composition and orchestral studies and have weekly private lessons from the center's faculty. Camps last from three to seven weeks. / Special to WNC Parent

Written by

Paul Clark, WNC Parent contributor

Music students who want to keep their skills sharp over summer break can play, study and hang out with their peers at camp.

For many, it’s the first time they’ve been around people as passionate about music as they. Summer camp not only helps them to keep their “chops” up, but it gives them an opportunity to study one-on-one with a professional. It also provides an in-depth experiences with music they may never have played before.

The biggest name in student summer camps in the Asheville area is Brevard Music Center. Application deadlines have already passed for this summer (March 1, but sometimes the deadline is extended to fill out certain instrumental sections), but you can start planning for next summer. The center’s high school division has about 170 students each year, ages 14-18, who study piano, voice, composition and orchestral studies and have weekly private lessons from the center’s faculty. Camps last from three to seven weeks. Auditions (submitted online) are required. Tuition help exists.

Local band directors have been directing serious high school musicians to Cannon Music Camp (www.cannon.appstate.edu) in Boone since 1969. Instructors emphasize ensemble performance in choir, orchestra, band, jazz and chamber music. Campers also get private one-hour lessons with the music faculty. Students study music theory, the foundation of musical performance, Monday through Friday. Also held weekdays are rehearsals of the various ensembles they are in.

This year, camp is June 29-July 20. A typical day for a brass player, say, might start with music theory at 9 a.m., and in one-hour increments proceed to symphony orchestra, concert choir, wind ensemble, jazz improv, jazz ensemble, punctuated by lunch and concluding with “enrichment activities” that include sectional rehearsals, conducting, leadership training and college auditions preparation. On Saturdays and Sundays, students practice, go on picnics, have talent shows and relax.

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The three-week camp, held on the campus of Appalachian State University, is open to serious music students who have completed grades 8-12. Because it happens during summer, campers can have a college-like experience at a time when the campus is less busy. Faculty recitals are held throughout.

“If you think you want to be a music major in college, this is a great way to find out,” said Steve Hopkins, camp director. “They’ll find out if they’re willing to put in the work to do that or if they just want to do music as an avocation, which is a great thing to know. They live in the residence halls and eat in the cafeteria, and they learn about Boone. And they learn a bit about independence — and washing their own clothes.”

Scholarships are available (students should ask their band directors or music instructors; they may also get info by going to the camp website). The difference that music camp can make for the serious student is significant, Hopkins said.

“We’ve seen kids come here that didn’t have a good (musical) foundation but when they got with a teacher, it really set them on fire,” he said. “They went from last chair to first chair.”

Mars Hill College’s annual summer music camp (www.mhc.edu/musiccamp) is June 23-28. Middle and high school students will study with the college faculty, which includes many of the region’s top performers, conductors and educators. The camp offers classes in middle school band and jazz band, high school band and jazz band, music theory, jazz improvisation, conducting, reed making and more.

Overnight students stay in dorms on campus and eat in the college’s dining hall next to the music building. Down time can be spent in the campus swimming pool and on its basketball courts for volleyball, all under camp counselor supervision. The Asheville Symphony Guild offers full and half scholarships (www.ashevillesymphony.org/guild/music-education).

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Though not an overnight camp, the School of Rock in Charlotte conducts a few camps during the summer. Students during its Beatles Mania! camp June 10-14 (geared toward the beginner and intermediate player) will learn the songs of arguably the world’s greatest rock band. The schools Metal Camp June 24-28 is for shredders – all things metal and nothing but. Among the other camps is a songwriting and recording camp Aug. 5-16.

If your high schooler plays bassoon, there’s a special opportunity in Little Switzerland, if you’re willing to accompany them for the 10-day camp. Some 35 years old, the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp (www.bassooncamp.com) at Wildacres retreat attracts up to 60 bassoon and contrabassoon players of all ages from all over the country.

Players under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, but the experience they’ll have in a beautiful setting will be a vacation for all, business manager Jim Poe said.

The 2013 session is May 27-June 6. Master class topics range from major orchestral, ballet and opera music to chamber music excerpts, as well as the main solo repertoire of the bassoon. Campers can attend the weeklong reed-making class. There are recitals and impromptu performances, and at the end of camp, the Bassoon Band gives a concert to anyone who wants to come.

“It’s kind of wild when, after the master class, everyone goes back to their room and start practicing. It’s a wild sound,” Poe said.

Campers can also take yoga classes and receive bodywork for the strain holding a bassoon can entail. Time off can be spent hiking, birdwatching, touring Biltmore House or visiting Penland School of Crafts. The bassoon repertoire is planned by camp co-founder Loren Glickman and guest artists who have performed with major symphony orchestras around the world.

Glickman has performed as soloist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and the Casals Festival. A performer on many chamber music recordings, he is also a conductor and film score composer. Prior to his death in August 2011, camp co-founder Mark Popkin was principal bassoon with the New Jersey Symphony, the New York City Opera, Musica Aeterna and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. He taught at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem for 42 years.